As the coronavirus pandemic continues to unfold, albeit at a slower rate, countries are still struggling to decide how to divide Covid-19 vaccines amongst each other. The World Health Organization has spent months criticizing first-world countries for buying up more vaccines than they would need, not leaving enough to supply the developing world.
At a G7 virtual meeting today, United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce that the UK will donate all of its excess vaccines to Covax, a United Nations sub-organization dedicated to helping the poorest countries in the world get access to vaccines. The UK, which has a population of under 70 million people, has purchased around 400 million vaccines.
About 25% of the UK’s population has already received at least one shot against the coronavirus. Additional millions of vaccines might be kept as a stockpile in case re-vaccination needs to begin in the fall. That would still leave millions of doses up for donation in the UK.
Meanwhile, President of France Emmanuel Macron proposed that the European Union and the United States donate 4-5% of their current vaccine stockpiles.
The developments come after a report by the United Nations revealed that at least 130 countries have not received a single Covid-19 vaccine yet, while the top ten economies in the world have acquired more than 70% of the vaccines.
Russia and China have tried to fill the vacuum with their own vaccines by sharing them with developing countries in what seems to be an attempt to expand these countries’ areas of influence.
Meanwhile, the financial markets once again seem to be returning to reflationary trades. The curve on US Treasury bond yields is becoming steeper, which is pressuring the dollar and fueling risk appetite. US stock indices are on the rise once again thanks to the reflationary mood of investors.
On the economic calendar today, PMI reports were of the highest importance. Data from Germany and the eurozone as a whole was better than expected in the composite and manufacturing PMI reports. Services, however, remain an area of disappointment due to the disproportionate effect of lockdowns on this sector of the economy.
UK PMIs were all around better. The United States will publish its own manufacturing PMI later in the day. Canada will offer its latest retail sales report.
Last but not least, oil prices will end the week at a loss after the state of Texas started recovering from the cold snap that paralyzed it for most of this week. Power is being restored and oil refineries are slowly going back to business, which is pressuring oil prices. The Brent fell to $62.61, while the WTI reached $58.93 per barrel today.
